PLAYA VISTA, Calif.—For all the excitement around the new batch of players the Los Angeles Clippers have brought in this year—they will have Chauncey Billups back, probably before the new year, and also acquired Jamal Crawford, Lamar Odom and Grant Hill—the determining factor in just how well this team is able to come together lies in one of its lingering problems from last season: They will have DeAndre Jordan at center and Blake Griffin at power forward, and as much raw talent as those two young guys have, they need to be better at both ends of the floor.

Start with their offense. Their athleticism makes the Jordan-Griffin tandem one of the most impressive dunking frontcourts in the league, but their combined lack of much else in their repertoire makes them one of the worst-shooting frontcourts in the league. Both are excellent at-the-rim finishers, with Griffin making 65.7 percent and Jordan making 65.9 percent. But get them away from the rim and things fall off quickly. Griffin made 27.7 percent of his 10-15 footers and 37.0 percent from 16-23 feet. Jordan simply didn’t shoot from that range.

More glaring, the duo was brutal at the free-throw line, Griffin shooting 52.1 percent from the stripe and Jordan shooting 52.5 percent. That needs an immediate fix, and the hope is that new shooting coach Bob Thate can at least help turn around those percentages.

“He has worked with especially DeAndre and Blake all summer,” coach Vinny Del Negro said. “I think you’ll see improvement there. But people forget, they’re young players, they have to develop, it takes time. Everyone wants it now. No one wants it more in the present more than I do, and them. And they know that, and I think you’ll see an improvement there. That gives us another added value, no question.”

Griffin spent much of the summer working with Thate, having had his brief stint with Team USA cut short by a knee injury. He said the changes in his shot do not exactly constitute an overhaul, but he has simply tightened up his form. “A lot of times when I would shoot I would fade back a little bit unnecessarily, sometimes I would hang and keep the ball up high for a while, and I think we’ve pretty much gotten rid of all that,” Griffin said. “But I still have a ways to go. It is a process.”

Jordan, too, worked with Thate, as well as assistant coaches Marc Iavaroni and Dave Severns. But for Jordan, really, the free-throw shooting is the main issue—his role on the court, especially with the Clippers’ added offensive weapons, is going to involve other areas. Jordan received a hefty four-year, $43 million contract from the Warriors last year, a deal the Clippers chose to match, but there is no question he did not play up to his contract.

“He has to play at a higher level than he did last year. A lot is expected of him and it should be and he knows that,” Del Negro said. “I think you have to take steps at a time. But if guys understand that he is out there to control the defensive glass, to block shots, to run the court, to set good screens, the other stuff will come. If he is able to accept his role, all the other things will happen for him because he is so athletic. He has worked very hard this summer.”

The Clippers front office, too, worked hard to bring in the kind of veteran depth they lacked last season. But for all their additions, the immediate fate of the teams probably lies in the development of their two young big men.